Empty Rooms
by Derpy Phantom
Summary: Danny teams up with an unlikely ally- Vlad- in order to rescue Phantom from the Fatherly Vlad/Danny and brotherly Rated T for swearing, rating may become higher later
1. Chapter 1

Danny could hear nothing but his own heavy panting and his footsteps as he ran. His chest hurt from running so far and so long, but he couldn't stop. He ran as if his very life depended on it; which it probably did. _Almost there_, he thought. _Come on, Danny, just a bit farther. You can make it._

He saw the mansion in the distance. Vlad Masters' house. If he could just get there, he might be safe. It seemed like hours before he finally reached the house. He rang the doorbell and yelled, "VLAD!"

It took what felt like ages before the door opened. Vlad looked very annoyed. "Daniel, it is almost 1 in the morning, what are you doing ringing my doorbell at this late hour?"

"V-Vlad, please. I need your h-help." Danny gasped.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Vlad asked, a concerned look replacing the annoyed one.

"N-no time to explain." Danny said. "Please."

Vlad moved aside and ushered the boy inside. "Please, Daniel, tell me what's going on."

Danny locked the door and sat down. "W-water first. Ran all the… way here."

Vlad nodded and ran off to the kitchen, returning a few moments later with a glass of ice water. "Why did you run? Why didn't you use your ghost form and fly?" He asked.

Danny looked at Vlad, then looked down sadly. "Because I can't."

"Why can't you?" Vlad sat down beside Danny.

"I'm not Danny Phantom anymore. I'm just ordinary Danny Fenton." Danny whispered. "They separated us. They still have Phantom."

"Daniel, what are you talking about? Who are 'they'?" Vlad seemed confused.

Danny sighed. He really didn't want to talk any more about this. "I'll… I'll tell you later." He said. "Don't wanna think about it right now."

Vlad nodded understandingly. How many times had he wanted to just forget about something? He draped a blanket over Danny's shoulders. "Alright, Daniel. You can tell me when you're ready."

* * *

"Alright, Phantom, nap time's over." His captors, the Guys In White, entered the room.

Phantom lay against the wall, crying. His wrists were in chains and his ankles chained to the floor. "Danny," he whispered, "What did you do to him?"

"He got away." One of them responded. "But we caught him, and punished him.

Phantom had no way of knowing whether or not they were telling the truth, "Y-you're lying," he whispered.

"Not at all, Phantom." Another one said. "Not at all."

Phantom curled up and bit his lip. "Is he still alive, at least?"

"Yes." The first one said.

"Let me see him." Phantom whispered.

"No."

For a moment, sorrow and anger seemed to be fighting within him. The anger won. He leapt up and lunged at the first one, but the chains on his ankles held him back. His eyes glowed with anger and he yelled, "YOU SCUM! YOU FILTHY BASTARDS!"

One of them pulled out some sort of ghost tazer and zapped him. "Down, boy."

Phantom cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The anger faded and was replaced once again by sadness. He started sobbing again. The Guys In White left, but he didn't notice or care.

After a while, though, he realized he was alone again. He focused ectoplasmic energy in his hands and started trying to break the chains holding him. He knew they were ghost-proof, but that wouldn't stop him from trying.

* * *

Danny woke up on Vlad's couch. He hadn't even known he'd fallen asleep. Vlad was sitting on a chair nearby, reading. "Unh…" He groaned.

Vlad put his book down. "Good morning, Daniel." He said.

"G'mornin…" Danny mumbled. "Wha's for breakfast?"

"Waffles, if that's okay." Vlad said.

"Sounds good," Danny said. "Uh, later, d'you think you could come with me… back to that place and try to rescue Phantom?"

Vlad blinked. "Daniel, do you really think that's a good idea?"

Danny nodded. "Phantom's my… uh, Phantom's… well, I care about him, and that's enough, okay? I wanna get him out of there."

Vlad nodded. "I understand." He said. "Very well then."

"Thanks," Danny smiled.

"But it will be dangerous, Daniel." Vlad said.

"I know." Danny said. "It's the Guys In White, obviously it'll be dangerous. And difficult. But… I really want to save Phantom."

Vlad sat beside the boy and smiled. "Then we will save Phantom," He said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Escape**

Gets a little darker in this chapter. :) Happy ending, right? Or is it? The story's not over yet! :)

* * *

Danny looked at himself in the mirror. God, ever since he escaped the GIW facility, he looked like shit. He grabbed the little tube of makeup cream Jazz had given him to cover his bruises and used it to hide the dark circles under his eyes. "I'm fine," He whispered. "It's Phantom I'm not so sure about,"

Vlad walked in and gave him a reassuring smile. "Daniel, are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be, fruit loop." Danny forced a smile.

"Well then," Vlad put his hand on Danny's shoulder, "Let's go rescue Phantom."

Danny nodded. "Hold on, Phantom. I'm coming."

Vlad transformed into Plasmius and grabbed Danny. "Since you can't fly now, I'm going to carry you." He said.

Danny shrugged. "Okay. I'll tell you how to get there. Let's go."

* * *

Phantom struggled weakly against the anti-ghost straps holding him down. They negated his powers, so he couldn't use intangibility to get free. As much as he hated it, he was trapped.

The Guys in White were experimenting on him. They were taking samples of his ectoplasm, injuring him in various ways to test his ghostly healing abilities, clipping samples of his hair... and he couldn't do anything to stop them.

"P-please, that h.. THAT HURTS!" He cried, squirming. "STOP!"

"Agent P., get the muzzle," One of the men said. "I'm sick of hearing him crying and blubbering."

Agent P. nodded and walked off to a box full of tools and devices in the corner. He came back a moment later holding the muzzle they'd told him to get. Phantom struggled. "N-no, please, I'll be qu-quiet, I swear..." He pleaded.

Two of them held his head still while Agent P. fastened the muzzle over Phantom's mouth, silencing his pleas. Then the torturous experiments resumed.

* * *

Vlad flew as fast as he could, carrying Danny. Danny kept telling him directions, like "Turn right here!" or "Left at the next turn point!" Normally Vlad would be getting very annoyed by this, but Danny was obviously just stressed out and worried about Phantom, so he put up with it.

"There!" Danny yelled finally, pointing at a building. "That's the place! That's the place I escaped from. That's where Phantom is!"

Vlad swooped down and landed beside the building. He put his hand on Danny's shoulder and turned the both of them invisible and intangible, then phased them through the wall. They phased into countless rooms, most of them empty, as they searched for Phantom. But so far, there was no sign of him.

"What if they moved him after I got away? So I wouldn't be able to find him?" Danny wondered.

"It's possible," Vlad said, "But I doubt it."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I escaped, so if anything they'd probably try to lure me back using him as bait for a trap."

Vlad looked at Danny. "A trap?"

"Oh, crap, you don't think this is a trap, do you?" Danny asked.

"It could be." Vlad said. "It's much too quiet and empty around here..."

Danny took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Well then I'll just have to be prepared for if it is a trap."

The two continued searching the was a huge building, though. Eventually, Danny realized something. "The basement," He said. "They had us in the basement, Phantom's probably still down there!"

Vlad nodded and phased them through the floor into the basement. There was a lab down there, and the Guys in White were nowhere to be seen. "Phantom?" Danny whispered.

There was no response. Danny fell completely silent, listening. After a few moments he could hear quiet sobbing. He followed the sound. "Phantom?" He asked again.

He turned the corner and gasped. "Phantom!" He ran toward the other and fumbled to undo the straps. "Are you okay?!"

Phantom stared at Danny and nodded.

Danny then removed the muzzle from Phantom's mouth and hugged him. "Good."

"D-Danny...?" Phantom whispered. "They told me you escaped... they said they caught you and t-tortured you..."

"No," Danny said. "I did escape, but they didn't catch me. I ran to Vlad. He's agreed to help us escape."

Phantom hugged Danny back. "I'm... I'm glad you're okay," He said.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but we gotta get out of here before the Guys in White find us!" Danny said. "Can you still fly?"

"Yeah," Phantom floated up a few feet into the air in answer.

"Vlad, carry me back. Phantom, follow us. Neither of you slow down or stop until we're safe back at Vlad's house, okay?" Danny said.

Both of them nodded. Vlad picked Danny up again. Then they phased through the ceiling, out of the building, and took off.

Obeying Danny's instructions, they didn't stop flying until they got back to Vlad's mansion.

Once they were safely inside, they locked all the doors and windows. Then Phantom sat down. "Vlad, first aid kit." Danny said.

Vlad nodded and left the room. Danny and Phantom just stared at each other for a moment.

"...thanks for coming back for me," Phantom mumbled.

"Dude, I couldn't leave you there." Danny smiled.

Phantom smiled back and hugged Danny. Danny hugged him back. Vlad walked in and saw them hugging, and decided to wait until they were done to come in, so he wouldn't interrupt the moment.


End file.
